He’s been a visitor many times over three decades and now we can call him “Hall of Famer” Gary Williams. He’s the “other” Gary Williams of Beltway Boxing “aka” Digital, who was inducted into the Coppin State Hall of Fame after all of his years on the mic at the Coppin Center and the beautiful new Physical Education Complex. A little Eagles love here with one of our favorite local historians of the sweet science.
Gary “Digital” Williams, a longtime PA announcer for Coppin State University, was inducted into the Coppin State Hall of Fame alongside Danny Singletary, Sydney Goodman Rakes, Keisha Brooks, and Christina Epps. Williams, who has been with Coppin State since 1993, shared his journey from Howard University to Coppin State, where he has been a key figure in the athletic department. He discussed the growth of the university, including the transition to the Physical Education Complex and the resurgence of the basketball programs. Williams also reflected on his boxing journalism career and the impact of his mother’s illness on his travel schedule.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Coppin State, Hall of Fame, Gary Digital Williams, PA announcer, Howard University, public address, basketball program, women’s basketball, Angel Reese, MEAC tournament, boxing journalist, beltway boxing, family atmosphere, physical education complex, 125th anniversary
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Gary “Digital” Williams
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’re getting the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. We will be at Faith Lee’s Lexington market on the sixth of March. I will have the magic eight ball scratch offs giveaway. I’m also working some monopoly scratch all sports all over with we have a litany of great guests on the sixth of March, including Mark Viviano be joining us down at fatales and some other guests. Also two young officers to do something called Preparing youth for tomorrow. We have a cup of soup or bowl still left over from last month, so we’ll be at fates on the sixth our friends at Coppin State University. We are there a flagship basketball there’ll be some baseball before it’s all over. We do all their sports around here, COVID state sports. And I have my Eagles belt buckle. And I gotta say this, that because my friend Gary digital Williams was being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Was a big homecoming weekend. Last weekend, we had both games on here. Unfortunately, the basketball teams took the shorter end of that, but I made my way over to campus, and it was so packed that I literally didn’t even make it to see you on Saturday courtside. Gary digital Williams did beltway boxing here for many, many years. He was a longtime guest at W NSD and was put into the Hall of Fame. He has been the long, long time PA announcer for all things basketball and volleyball with the Eagles Hall of Famer, I got it. Do I have to refer to you differently now, Gary, you sir, digital Williams, is that what I gotta call you?
Gary “Digital” Williams 01:33
I just Gary, Gary Williams. That’s all Gary digital Williams. That’s what,
Nestor Aparicio 01:37
you know, the Hall of Fame thing. It slipped past me, and then I saw that I was invited. And then I saw the the the whole agenda. Danny Singletary was among the the group that went in the Hall of Fame with you. And I remember him with Fang being one of the great basketball players back in the 90s. But COVID state rich tradition, man, you’re, you’re joining a lot of big names in the COVID state Hall of Fame.
Gary “Digital” Williams 01:59
Oh yeah. I’m so happy about it, because three of the the players that are in the Hall of Fame with me came in the Hall of Fame with me are those I announced, I announced Danny Singletary, I announced Sydney Goodman rakes, and I announced Keisha Brooks, and also Christina Epps. Was a one time an assistant coach with the volleyball team. She was a two sport athlete herself, and I got a chance to work with her for years. So, so, yeah, it was really, it really heartwarming to be a part of that particular class, because I knew that class so well.
Nestor Aparicio 02:29
Alright, how many years? And how did you get the gig? Give me the whole comp and state back? Because I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this. You’ve been a guest on the show a million times talking about local boxing and and, you know, tanks in another fight. Here you soon. But, but for for you with Coppin State, are you an alum? Let’s start with that, because I don’t even know. No,
Gary “Digital” Williams 02:49
I am not an alum of Coppin State. I am actually alum of another school within the conference, Howard University. And that’s how I got to Coppin um, the sports, the original sports, one of the original Sports Information directors there, Jesse Batten, was a classmate of a schoolmate of mine, I should say, at Howard University. And when he came he was also assistant sports director our sports and French director at Howard under the legendary Ed Hill Junior. So when he came over to cop and they said, he said, he need APA nows, would I be interested? I’ve been doing Howard public address for seven years. I did Howard, basketball, football and track and field and some soccer as well. Now
Nestor Aparicio 03:28
that was late 80s, early 90s. You were doing 1982
Gary “Digital” Williams 03:33
Wow, to about 1989 Okay, yeah. And thereabouts, yeah. So when he came, when he came over, he said they need a PA now it’s, would I be interested? I told him, yeah, I’ll definitely be interested in doing it. I’ve been, I’ve been doing public address, really, since my first gig was actually my senior year in high school. All I did was I
Nestor Aparicio 03:51
did the morning announcements in high school, and that’s how I got my gig doing radio. 33 years
Gary “Digital” Williams 03:56
we had a middle school basketball tournament, and it was hosted about high school, and I did that. I was my first gig as a public dress announcer. So I came over to Coppin in 1993 and I stayed. And that’s it. That’s been it. I mean, I’ve been through a lot of administration changes, changes in coaching, changing sports and rate director, but I I’ve been there all that time, and I really am honored by that, because any one of those administrations Nestor could have, could have just said, you know, we want to go in a different direction. And it could have, and they didn’t. And I’m really honored by that.
Nestor Aparicio 04:33
Well, I tell you what, man, you’ve been loyal to cop and cop, it’s been great, too. You mentioned all of these different humans. You had a different gym in the beginning, right,
Gary “Digital” Williams 04:42
right? I was at, I was the last window to work out of the cop and center, and
Nestor Aparicio 04:47
that’s where I met Fang. You know, I met Fang at the top and center. You know, that’s why I
Gary “Digital” Williams 04:51
met Fang. I never forget when I walked in the fangs office the very first time, and he knew I was from Howard, because I announced a couple of games at Howard when they played cops. State, and I was with Phil booth and Reggie Isaac, and course, Larry Stewart himself and I came into the office, first thing Frank said to me was welcome to the winning side. And we went on throughout the 90s to be the dominant team in the MEAC. In the 90s, we won all the regular season championships and went to a couple of NCAA tournaments.
Nestor Aparicio 05:18
And those were good good times. Gary digital Williams is your hall of famer Coppin State University. We are their flagship. We also like to feature stories and feature folks from Coppin State and good things going on. The new gym there. When I tell people I have a partner of mine, Chris, I was gonna invite down to the game once, I said, and there have been a game down at COP, and I’m like, You should go to a game down at a cop and right across from Madam. And now I would recommend going when there’s more parking than there was on Saturday, because it was just a lot of people there. Um, you’ve really seen the growth of the university, though, right as we talk about the growth of the basketball program, women’s basketball, sports, athletics, education, everything, but just, you know, leaving the cop and center into this beautiful facility that’s there. There’s just a lot going on at Coppin that’s growth oriented, really, over the last two decades. Oh,
Gary “Digital” Williams 06:08
no question about it, that that the public Physical Education Complex is a marquee facility. I mean, they’ve had, not only have they had their basketball games, I’ve done some high school tournaments there. We had a ESPN rise tournament many years ago. One of the people that was involved in that was, I’ll never forget Austin rivers, who played in the pros for a while, son of Doc Rivers, and he was in that tournament. The first time Devonte Davis fought in Baltimore was at the Coppin center. Well, now I’m sorry, at the Physical Education Complex in 2013 it’s a marquee facility. I’m surprised it isn’t used more than it is. It is a beautiful facility, and just to see that growth has been tremendous, and I think also just the growth in the family aspect of that university. It really does feel like a family, family. I’ve been treated like that for many years. He kind of lost his way of about, I’d say, 10 years ago, but it’s back, and it is indeed better than ever.
Nestor Aparicio 07:12
Well, Dr, Jenkins working hard on that, and I have him, and I have professors on, I have educators on. I’m always trying to push forward things. And then I saw you on the Hall of Fame docket, and I thought, Well, I gotta have you on here. Are you still involved in boxing in any way? And it was always beltway boxing, but it was really the beltways between Baltimore and Washington that this you already mentioned, you know, Javante, you know that this was a boxing Mecca, and that was your journalism side of what you learned at Howard. I think for a long, time. She really the preeminent boxing journalist in the state over the last four decades. Really,
Gary “Digital” Williams 07:45
I appreciate that, and no, I’m not really doing it much now, I couple things happen. First of all, my mom got ill, and she just currently passed away in in 2023 so with that aspect wondering, I just decided I just didn’t want to travel anymore. My family has been so generous in letting me travel on whether they mostly for very little or no pay. So I have my mom that I figured I just didn’t want to to travel with the highways and byways of the beltway to do the cover as much as I wanted to not, not for free. And my partner, Juan Marshall, who was my long time broadcast partner, he felt the same way, and we decided to just call it quits. And I tell you we, Juan and I were talking about a week ago, and we realized that no one has picked up our slack from that. And that’s what’s kind of frustrating that you don’t hear the buzz that that Juan and I tried to generate with boxing. Well, I think
Nestor Aparicio 08:47
we go back to the 90s. I’ve been on the air 33 years digital. And, you know, I think of Scott Wagner. I think of Stewart, who put the fights on out in on the west side. And I just think of Mac Lewis, and just, you know, going back to Sugar Ray Leonard in this area, and, uh, Reggie gross, and the five Vincent pet way, the fighters we had here that were marquee fighters, right, that went on and won titles and did things you were a part of so much of this. And, you know, I’ve even, you know, they’ll, they’ll give Jack a hard time being the mayor about kids putting gloves on and boxing, but I think you did see it kept a lot of trouble off the streets in the day, and that whole rocky image and everything that went on, there was a legitimacy to it at that point that I don’t know MMA and professional wrestling and just all the stuff that’s going on. Boxing feels like it’s slipped a lot in this country. I know in other cultures and other places, it’s still huge, but you were really the sort of the last bastion of that. I don’t know that anybody will ever pick that slack up digital and
Gary “Digital” Williams 09:51
that’s and it’s sad. It really is. I mean, we had some great boxers. I know in Baltimore, not only do we have Vincent Pettway, we had Kenny Blackstone, Ed Griffin. And Courtney Butler, just to name a few. Later on, James keeping Stevenson was out there. And of course, everybody down the Upton location, with guys like Javonte Davis and Malik Hawkins and Lorenzo Simpson. We do, we do have some very quality boxers, but the buzz is not the same. And, and that’s the sad part about it. And for example, we talked about Javonte Davis having a big bout. That bout is against Lamont Roach, who’s also from the beltway area, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of buzz about it, man, because not in in the beltway region, but it’s coming up soon, and there’s really no buzz behind it. That’s really kind of sad. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 10:38
I said Stu satoske, I want to give his family some love as well as Jake, right? I mean, Jake put fights. I mean just putting the fights on and getting people out, and what Scott Wagner did, and even the John Ogden nights, where they do, you know, have done their things, or whatever, it used to be much more prolific, is what I’m saying. And I guess, hey, time and a season for everything. You’re now in the COVID Hall of Fame, the basketball programs over there. The ladies were really playing good ball back in December, Layla had come on. I had Coach Woods on as well. And I know Larry’s just struggled there. And I had Pat scary on this week from over Towson, and they’re the one seed in the CAA, the n, i L, the different conferences. What’s going on in the me act? You know, I would say it’s a downtime for COP and men’s basketball right now, but that turns around kind of quickly when you get the right players exactly,
Gary “Digital” Williams 11:30
and that, you know, just that’s got a big win over how University recently, and they’re in the situation now. When they got some they got a player back, Darius ward. They got him back, and he’s been a big key, and Toby the doz playing out of his mind right now. So they’re in a position now that they can be a spoiler come me at tournament time. I think they could be interesting coming me at time. They seem to be gelling back together. Losing Ryan Archie for the year did not help, but they’re playing. They played some great ball against Howard. They really did. They that was the best game I’ve seen them play all year, maybe in two years that Larry Stewart’s been there. That was one of their quality moments. No question.
Nestor Aparicio 12:13
Well, I know you have a fondness for Stu and there’s something you mentioned, a family atmosphere. I’ve known Larry three decades, so when I see him over at State Fair. I’m out, so I’ve run into Matt around town. Um, there is something about trying to bring it all in house. And I know, you know, tried that with Juan and the Maryland thing and the Baltimore thing, and that certainly did not work out. But Larry’s got real roots here,
Gary “Digital” Williams 12:34
right? Larry’s got roots in, of course, his brother, Steven. I, I announced Steven’s games. I didn’t announce Larry’s game. I announced Steven’s games, and also Sydney and as well as Chad Andrews Fulton, I was announcing for him and the the director of play personnel, play development, I should say turquoinmont, course, was teammate of Danny singletaries in that 9017 I know that name well. Yes, I knew. I knew all of them, and I know all them and and just to be to see them all together as coaches is is tremendous. It really is. Got the ladies
Nestor Aparicio 13:07
program. You got anything you want to say about the ladies? Because you’re out there announcing that as well, they had the biggest wins. And I would say, yeah, you mentioned the first fight for javanta and at the center the angel Reese night of all the nights there. Now look, you get together the Morgan Coppin thing every year. That’s a thing when, when they come into each other’s gyms, over to ill or whatever. But I was there for the angel Reese night, and you know, that was a real plum for the program. And I know next year, dog Staley’s bringing the program up, and South Carolina is going to come in next year as well, maybe not with an angel Reese, though, something different about that,
Gary “Digital” Williams 13:45
right? But it will be. But South Carolina State, with Dawn, still with the reputation she has, is going to be tremendous, and it’s going to be on Martin Luther King Day, from what I hear. So that’s going to make even more as far as Angel Reese concerned, the OSU that was a big night for us, as far as Angel Reese coming back home and all the teenage girls screaming at her and everything, that was a beautiful night.
Nestor Aparicio 14:09
It was a scene. I mean, I was there with you. We took pictures that night. It was fun. It
Gary “Digital” Williams 14:13
was definitely but the biggest win that any team has had in the PEC arena was earlier this year when the Lady Eagles knocked off Arizona State in overtime. That was a huge win for us, and I still believe it’s the biggest win ever that I’ve ever seen in the PEC
Nestor Aparicio 14:32
broadcast right here on wnsda at 1570 Gary digital Williams, dare I say, Hall of Famer, Gary digital Williams, COVID state. So now, 31 years as the mic, yeah, 31 Okay, how many more you got in you? You’re not near the end. Are you close to the beginning?
Gary “Digital” Williams 14:50
Well, I’m hoping I’m not be too close to the end, because you still have some big things coming up. You mentioned the the me act, excuse the game against South Carolina. Definitely want to be. For that. And also, I’ve been hearing that Coppin will host the MEAC volleyball championship for the next couple years. So I really want to be a part of that. I definitely do.
Nestor Aparicio 15:09
Well, you know, I tell you what COVID states got things going on right now, it is the 120/5 anniversary, so we’re kicking that thing off around here, and I’m going to, I’m going to get Doctor Jenkins back on to talk about that. He had been there for all 125 years, but I know he’s done the research on it. So God, digital always pleasure to visit with you, and I’m glad that you’re in semi retirement here, and they only put you to work couple days a week over there at at the COVID Center. But I’m I’m looking forward to was stopping over and seeing you again. I saw the pictures I saw. The Mayor was down there. Everybody was down there on Saturday. And I hope the food was good for the luncheon. That
Gary “Digital” Williams 15:46
was good. Very good breakfast. Fantastic for the breakfast, fantastic. And I just want to say that I’m so proud of what doctor Jenkins has done. You go into the PEC now that they’re really embracing the history, the athletic history of the university, what Derek Carter has done the athletic director, what Steve Kramer has done as the Director of Athletics communications. They’ve all been just so wonderful, and I really honor them and and thank them for letting me be a part of this whole thing. Ruffin Bell, I know you’ve had
Nestor Aparicio 16:18
roughly I was gonna yell Ruffins name out if you did, yeah,
Gary “Digital” Williams 16:22
outstanding job. And he’s an alum. Of course, he’s in Hall fame as well. So it it’s just a magnificent time to be an eagle over COVID state, and the family
Nestor Aparicio 16:35
be proud of it. Ruffin Hall of Fame. Is he really doing
Gary “Digital” Williams 16:38
Hall of Fame for himself as a baseball player, or he was on one of the teams that’s in the Hall of Fame. I’m gonna
Nestor Aparicio 16:45
have to ask him about that. You know, once you’re in the Hall of Fame, they treat you. They don’t treat me. I’m in a Dundalk Hall of Fame, but they don’t treat me different. I’m saying that’s part of being from Dundalk, though. It’s like, you know, right?
Gary “Digital” Williams 16:55
Okay, I don’t want them to treat me different. I really don’t. They’ve treated me so well. And I’m really honored to be to continue to be a part of that program.
Nestor Aparicio 17:04
I disagree. I want them to treat me differently in Dundalk, Gary digital Williams is here. He his beltway boxing is the long time PA announcer for the COVID state eagles. And if you stay tuned here at wnsc, just a little while longer, I’m sure it’s gonna be a cop and State game on. Oh, we got me a tournament going on next week as well. So I will be preempted at am 1570 a couple times in a couple of weeks for some basketball. And that is just okay with me, because a little bit of me goes a long way. I am Nestor. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking our partnership with COVID state and the mighty eagles in our flagship and the 125th anniversary of their existence here as a HBCU school here in Baltimore, Maryland, we are Baltimore positive.com. Stay with us. You.
